From the inner sleeve: In 1865, a woman first obtained a legal qualification as physician and surgeon. Elizabeth Garrett, the red-headed apparently demure daughter of a country merchant, surprised public opinion by being 'almost pretty'. She surprised it still further by the calm obstinacy with which she fought for her own medical education and that of the young women who followed her.

Her pioneering zest did not desert her as she grew older. At 34 she topped the poll in the elections to the first London School Board, at 37 she became the only woman member of the British Medical Association, at 47 the first woman Dean of a medical school, and at 71 Britain's first woman Mayor.

Love and marriage were interwoven with her struggle, and as wife and mother with a full professional life to lead she met many of the problems which confront women today. This, the first full biography, is based largely on unpublished material from the hospitals and medical schools where Elizabeth Garrett Anderson worked, and the private papers of the Garrett and Anderson families.

Journal Entry 2 by awaywithfairies at Mounties Club, Meadows Rd in Mount Pritchard, New South Wales Australia on Friday, June 15, 2007